John D. Oliva '32 (Football, Basketball, Baseball, Boxing,
Track)

Inducted 1978

Johnny Oliva competed in all five major sports Catholic
University offered in the late 1920s, early 1930s. More amazingly,
he played them all as a sophomore (1929-30), the only CUA athlete
ever to accomplish such a feat.

“One of the finest athletes ever to represent Catholic
University!,” the 1932 Cardinal yearbook proclaimed.
“That is the fitting tribute we pay Johnny Oliva, who for
four years has won the acclaim and applause of both sports-writers
and fans. We may let the sport pages of this annual give evidence
of his extraordinary versatility.”

Oliva enjoyed a stellar career at Fitchburg (Mass.) High School.
He starred on the 1925-26 basketball team that defeated five teams
in Chicago and was proclaimed “National Basketball
Champions.” He also played football, baseball and ran track.
His final football team was 9-1 and outscored its opponents,
278-7.

When Oliva was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in
2007, his presenter said:

“Old timers will tell you that the very finest athlete of
[the 1920s] was an Italian-American kid who grew up on Haywood
Street by the name of Johnny Oliva.”

At CUA, Oliva played forward in basketball, was a high jumper in
track and played quarterback in football. In 1935 and 1937, the
school’s student newspaper, The Tower, named him
second-team quarterback on CUA’s all-time football team. His
coach his final two years was Arthur “Dutch” Bergman,
who in 1919 played in the same backfield with George Gipp at Notre
Dame.

A guard from that team, Hunk Anderson, became Notre Dame’s
coach in 1931 after Rockne’s tragic death in an airplane
accident. Anderson was so impressed with Oliva’s
quarterbacking skills that he called him “one of the greatest
passers I have ever seen play.”

Oliva’s career came to an end his senior year when he
broke his ankle in a 20-12 victory over Duquesne. The Cardinals won
their final eight games to finish 8-1, then the school record for
victories in a season.

Oliva coached the Fitchburg High basketball team from 1939 to 1966
– except for a few years during World War II – and
earned more than 300 victories. His 1956-57 club was 14-1 during
the regular season and drew its first invitation to the Western
Massachusetts Tournament in nearly a decade.